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What Makes a Missionary

When most people think of a missionary, they immediately think of a certain type of person. 

Maybe someone who lives in a third-world country, in a little hut with a dirt floor and thatched roof, whose days are spent caring for the sick or homeless, or building homes and churches, someone who does all of these radical and moral works in Jesus’ name. Someone like Amy Carmichael, Adoniram Judson, or Elisabeth and Jim Elliot. We set aside these types of people in a certain group and label them as, “missionaries.”

I moved to Mexico almost two months ago to serve with GEM and be a missionary. 

Most missionaries here are teachers who are in their classrooms with their students all day, pouring into their lives and speaking the truth of the Gospel to them.

My job? It looks a little different. 

I work in the GEM Mexico field office where the majority of my job is done in front of a computer all day, capturing and creating content, and sharing what is happening at GEM schools with the world. 

It doesn’t fit the typical missionary stereotype.

…but not many things do. 

We are trained to make whatever our job title is our identity. 

I think as Christians it is important to realize that whatever we do, wherever we go, whatever we say, should all be done for the glory of the Lord. We should not save a select group of people to earn the title or responsibility of a missionary. If you associate yourself with Christ and serve Him with your life, you are an ambassador of Him (2 Corin. 5:20), therefore a missionary. This is a position to be taken seriously. 

It is so easy and natural for us to get so stuck in our routines that we forget the most important reason why we are doing all of it… why we are living this life, why we are put on this earth. The purpose and priority should always be Christ, bringing glory to His name, and making every effort to make His name known among all people, no matter what your title or position might be. 

“Wherever you are, be all there! Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God.” – Jim Elliot

The Lord has divinely placed each one of us right where He wants us to be. We need to trust that our Father can use our five loaves and our two fish to feed a multitude. Whether you are a college student going from class to class, a stay-at-home mom feeding and entertaining kids all day, the CEO of a major corporation, or anything in between…you are a missionary. Christ has called you to be His hands and feet right where you are.

There is no prerequisite to being a missionary other than a heart that longs to serve the Lord as well as simple and faithful obedience in all things unto Him.

– Sarah Beth Moore, GEM Missionary

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Go.

I want to start off by saying Christ is so AWESOME!! I am truly so humbled that He can take broken sinners like me, and use us as vessels to overflow and outpour the grace, love, and mercy He has ceaselessly given us. May everything I do be done through Christ and for His glory alone. If for any other reason, then it’s for nothing. It is not I, but Christ in me. I pray that this would be the song of my heart and at the forefront of my mind with every step I take. I pray that I may continue to boast in all of my weaknesses because Christ’s power is made perfect in them!!

I have been learning this more and more throughout this journey thus far.

When I share with people that I am moving to Mexico for a couple of years after I graduate college, I have received responses of all kinds. I have got the question, “are you sure you can do this?” or “are you sure you want to do this?” I am sure that the ones who were asking these questions were doing it out of care and love for me. However, over time, these questions on repeat started to wear on me. I began to ask myself… “can I really do this? I must be crazy for thinking I can!” Following that came the urge to prove to myself and to others that I could. Well, God used this to teach me a hard but beautiful lesson.

I found that the more I tried to prove myself capable, it only magnified my incapability.

The answer to the question, “do you think you can really do this?” has a simple answer: I know I can’t…

…but hallelujah I know the one who can!!

Christ in me who has called me by His great name! I can do all things through Him because He strengthens me. That is the only way.

Vessels are best filled when empty, so that’s what I want to be. Empty before the Lord so that I can be filled with more and more of Him.

Here’s a quick summary of how the Lord got me to say a joyful “yes” to moving to Mexico with GEM:

In college, the Lord started revealing things in my life that I had a death grip on. He kept saying to me over and over again that He wanted it all. Not just a piece of my life, but the entire thing. When I submitted to what Jesus did on the cross for me 10 years ago, my life had died. I had known this, but I was suddenly burdened and was made heart-wrenchingly aware of the blueprints I sketched for my life that I had been hoarding for myself… my comfortable kingdom I was building here when there are souls dying every day who have never heard of the name of Jesus! The name that had set me free and given me Life…people were dying without even knowing of Him. (As I am writing this I pray that this Truth will continue to overwhelm our hearts and bring us to our knees. May it send out laborers! For the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few — Matthew 9:37) This began to wreck me…but it also stirred up a passion within me for the gospel that was overwhelming me to do something about what had been shown to me. At college group one Sunday night, I was sharing what was on my heart and my youth pastor pointed out to me that it sounded like I had a calling to ministry and to pray about it/look into different opportunities.

After months and months of prayer over where the Lord wanted me/what He wanted me to do, I went through some interviews as well as looking at different avenues I could take in the mission field. Nothing seemed right, and at one point I thought I was trying to force something that wasn’t supposed to happen, so I stopped looking yet kept praying.

Boom.

One Wednesday night my youth pastor mentioned Global Education Ministries (GEM) to me. I was immediately intrigued just from reading their website, but there was a problem… I was a marketing major… not an education major. I didn’t think they’d have a need for someone in Marketing.

Not mentioning my major, my youth pastor’s mom, who has been a part of GEM, reached out to them about my interest and this was their reply:

That right there is undeniably the Lord. I get chills thinking back to this moment.

To be honest, Mexico was not where I would have chosen. The only way I would have even considered going to Mexico was if the Lord gave me a heart for it.

Well after all of my interviews… I fell completely in love with GEM and what God is doing through their ministry. It is like my passions and the Lord’s desires beautifully meshed together it is so awesome and exciting!!

Throughout this entire journey, I have been saying that I don’t want to do anything for Christ, but I want to do everything with Him and through Him. I know without a doubt that He is with me and has given me a heart to serve Him and the beautiful people down in Mexico.

I am so honored to get to be a part of what God is doing through GEM and pray that He is glorified through everything that is done in my life and through this ministry.

– Sarah Beth Moore, GEM Missionary